The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has found that a petition to list the coaster brook trout, a form of brook trout found in the Great Lakes and its tributaries, as endangered is not warranted.
On March 1, 2006, the Service received a petition from the Sierra Club Mackinac Chapter and the Huron Mountain Club asking the Service to list the coaster brook trout as endangered and to designate critical habitat. Additional information was received on May 25, 2006. The Service announced in 2008 that it would study information on coaster populations to determine whether they should be listed as endangered.
The Service’s finding, which appears in the May 19, 2009, Federal Register, determined that coaster brook trout in the Great Lakes are not a distinct population segment and therefore are not eligible for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The ESA allows listing of species, subspecies and distinct population segments of vertebrate animals.
The Service also found that the coaster brook trout does not make up a significant portion of the range of the brook trout, another measure used to determine whether to list an animal as endangered or threatened under the ESA. Although the Service did not find that coaster brook trout can be listed under the Endangered Species Act, the agency decided to begin a native brook trout status assessment to better understand the brook trout in its entire range. Thiswould help determine whether any brook trout population meets criteria as a distinct population segment or constitutes a significant portion of the species’ range.
Coaster brook trout are brook trout that spend a portion of their life cycle in the Great Lakes. At one time, there were more than 50 runs in the U.S. waters of Lake Superior. They were also found in Lakes Huron and Michigan, where they are now extirpated. Today, there are four known populations in the U.S. waters of Lake Superior, all in Michigan: one in the Salmon Trout River in the Upper Peninsula and three on Isle Royale.
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